The Rise and Decline of Indian Microcredit

Here are two graphs of data from the Mix Market showing the rise and decline of microcredit in India---or at least in Andhra Pradesh. It is SKS that exhibits the sharpest drops in number of borrowers (from 6.24 million at March 31, 2011, to 4.30 million at December 31) and value of outstanding loans (from $926 million to $341 million). By these numbers, SKS is no longer India's largest microcreditor.But it could be that SKS is more conservative in its accounting, i.e., quicker than its competitors in AP (Spandana, Share, Bandhan, AML, BASIX, Trident, ...) to write off borrowers who are behind on repayments. It could be that SKS's numbers are more indicative of actual trends in Andhra Pradesh. If so, that may be because SKS is publicly listed and subject to tougher accounting standards. Or it could be because it raised millions in private equity and the initial public offering, making it readier to absorb and acknowledge losses.Another complexity is securitizations: India lenders sometimes sell off the loans on their books. As a matter of accounting, these loans are then not part of their portfolio, I guess, but the borrowers might still be attributed to the MFI. I'm not sure how the MIX handles this.Full spreadsheet here.Millions of active borrowers by microfinance institution, India, 2000--11Gross loan portfolio by microfinance institution, India, 2000--11 (million $)